Anti:dote, located at Fairmont Singapore and a short walk from City Hall Mrt, is pretty well-known for its 4-tier high tea set that comes in a very dainty white drawer. The set, at $48++ per person, isn't the cheapest in town. However, it comes with a starter, 4 tiers of goodies and your choice of coffee or a (really large) pot of tea(refillable 1x).
My pick of Holiday in Paris was lightly fragrant without a bitter aftertaste. Tasted some other teas (The Pink Flamingo, The Bellini) too, but I preferred mine still as the other two were too perfumey and had a bitter aftertaste respectively.
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| Holiday in Paris. |
For the starter, you get a choice of western or Chinese. The Chinese option was a set of 3-pc dim sum: scallop with Siew mai, carrot cake, and shrimp wrapped in fried beancurd skin. The western' option was organic egg, sea urchin and ikura roe.
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| Anti:dote High Tea Menu |
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My pick of the western was similar to chawanmushi. Great, but I couldn't help but wonder if the previously offered truffle scrambled eggs would be even better. The pan fried dim sum, which my kind fellow foodie shared, was really good. Either way, great start.
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| Organic egg, sea urchin and ikura roe |
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| 3-pc dim sum set |
The first drawer includes 5 kinds of canapes-style savouries: smoked salmon, lemon cream cheese, ikura roe, duck confit, foie gras terrine, boston maine lobster, pickled cucumber, dill brioche, iberico ham, seasonal truffle tart, wild mushroom duxelle vol au vent.
Of the items here, I really liked the wild mushroom duxelle vol au vent with its buttery fragrant and well-seasoned mushroom filling, and iberico ham, seasonal truffle tart which brought me back to Spain for awhile.
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| Wild mushroom duxelle vol au vent and smoked salmon, lemon cream cheese, ikura roe. |
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| Iberico ham, seasonal truffle tart and duck confit, foie gras terrine. |
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| Lobster Roll |
I was actually looking forward to the mini lobster roll. However, the mini bun could have been grilled buttery (it was plain actually) and the filling was just alright in flavour.
The next tier of scones had two variations: chia seeds, the other parmesan cheese. Between the two, I preferred the chia seeds one, since it was closer to plain. The parmesan cheese was a nice savory twist still and some of my foodie friends really liked it. They served the scones with a lemon curd and homemade raspberry jam, both of which were great, but the former is more refreshing.
What I really appreciated was that they served it with Devonshire clotted cream. I am a stickler for eating things the way it should be, and there's not much things more English than a scone with clotted cream. Now only if that scone was just good ol' plain...
Now for the sweet tier: the reason why high tea see more ladies than men. The Anti:dote collection on the top tier consists of pistachio layer, smoked tea cream (ok), Paris brest (passable), lemon sable with grapefruit parfait (skip because it was just weird - bitter aftertaste from the grapefruit and a too sweet middle layer), dark chocolate cake shortbread and nougat chip (not bad), mini strawberry cake with vanilla chibost (pretty alright but a tad sweet), green apple tartlet (this was good), chocolate-coated strawberry.
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| Note: this is a 3-pax portion. |
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| Mini strawberry cake with vanilla chibost , green apple tartlet, chocolate-coated strawberry |
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| Black Sesame Macaron |
The set also came with a black sesame macaron. I am not a big fan of macarons, but this one had my favourite sesame flavour AND was not sickeningly sweet. It was just right and there was a creamy slightly buttery aftertaste that was great. This had to be my favourite dessert piece, apart from the green apple tartlet.
The little portions of one each may not look like much, but they added up to be quite filling at this point. So, we took away these butter biscuits. Don't overlook this, the biscuit was actually flaky and buttery fragrant. Very tasty.
Given the ingredients that go into the quality food and ambience, Anti:dote's high tea set is a treat, especially for ladies. Given that it is quite rare and very difficult for a restaurant to get everything right in its sets, I would say Anti:dote fared good. Also, the service was attentive throughout and that's a plus. Great for a pampering afternoon, if you feel like splurging.
Anti:dote
Fairmont Singapore
High tea: Mon - Thurs, 3.00pm to 5.00pm; Fri, Sat, Sun, Eve Of PH and PH: 12pm to 2pm (1st seating), 3pm to 5pm (2nd seating)
80 Bras Basah Rd, S189560
Tel: 6339-7777
Now for the sweet tier: the reason why high tea see more ladies than men. The Anti:dote collection on the top tier consists of pistachio layer, smoked tea cream (ok), Paris brest (passable), lemon sable with grapefruit parfait (skip because it was just weird - bitter aftertaste from the grapefruit and a too sweet middle layer), dark chocolate cake shortbread and nougat chip (not bad), mini strawberry cake with vanilla chibost (pretty alright but a tad sweet), green apple tartlet (this was good), chocolate-coated strawberry.
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